Letter to the editor: Mourning abortion from another view

Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 12:01 am

I mourned on the day of the March for Life rally because we experience a loss and abuse in our community and country. The cause is abortion. It is not abortion of the unborn but abortion of the born who are sentenced to injustices, cruelties and abandonment. We have a bureaucratic system that cloaks itself in a guise of social concern, while neglecting to support programs that seek to provide children born by mothers in need of jobs, adequate housing, health care, safety and education.

I mourned thinking about the women of all ages who seek to terminate pregnancies and are subjected to harassment, judgment, stigmatization and pity by those who consider themselves more moral, pious and loving.

I mourned because the lack of insight and intelligence to understand the complexity of circumstances that drive decisions to voluntarily interrupt a pregnancy fuels the simplistic answer of stopping abortion while ignoring why a woman considers it her only solution. I also mourned the indoctrination of people too young to understand the intricacies of abortion decision-making into “saving the unborn” causes.

I mourned because women whose philosophical and religious beliefs do not align with the persuasion of those who do not accept the voluntary interruption of pregnancy are forced to go along with whatever devices are concocted to make it less available.

I mourned because private and personal medical services are subjected to an interlude of voyeurism by self-proclaimed saviors who congregate outside of clinics.

I mourned because the civil rights of living women are thwarted by those who believe only the unborn should have them.

I mourned because the increasing standards, rules, policies and restraints placed on women and legitimate abortion facilities will force the need for women to seek other means that are less safe as occurred before Roe v. Wade.

I mourned because women are denied the ability to set their own standards about their bodies and their lives, to live as sovereign individuals who can be trusted to make their own decisions and to live with them.

I mourned because abortion will not end until we create a society where women feel confident in having a safe, nurturing, accepting, loving and supportive environment in which they can raise a child.

I mourned because the time, energy and finances committed to stopping abortion could be so much better utilized by targeting the circumstances in which women who choose abortion find themselves.

Yes, I did mourn. But I also celebrated on Jan. 22, the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, knowing there are women and organizations that stand to protect reproductive justice for women. I celebrated that Planned Parenthood, NOW, Feminist Majority, NARAL, ACLU and various other organizations, who believe in and trust women, will continue in their work.